How Green Becomes Wood

"Thank you," Daizi said, wiping her eyes. "She was a good rat. She'd wag her tail when she was happy." She swallowed and turned her face away, "We're going to bury her when Ivy wakes up. I want her to see, so she understands. We still need to show the rest of the Mischief, so they know. I should have showed her before I shrouded her."

Dark rubbed her back, holding her dearly. "They do not live for as long as they should."

"No, they don't." She agreed quietly.
 
Xander opened his mouth to say something about how he seriously doubted Ivy had a clue about what was happening, but Alec gave him a sharp nudge. This was for Mama. It mattered to her, they'd do what they needed to. Xander conceded with a slight nod.

"We'll be there, too," Alec said simply. "Do you need anything for it?
 
She shook her head, but then said, "Well. Dark may go to the store to get violets. I like to bury the rats under the violets. I think they would like the slight shade. But we have everything else." She shut her eyes and scrunched her face up until she felt Enkidu press his nose against her leg, then she sat down and hugged him. After a few moments, she said, "Gwen is going to take Ophelia and Melinoë. When I'm ready." She pressed her face into Enkidu's fur, knowing it was the best thing for her family and her mischief, but not liking it regardless.
 
"Oh. I hadn't realized that two wouldn't be enough," Alec said softly.

"Violets like the ones already out in the garden? I can go get those," Xander suggested. "Do you want me to match the colors or get a different one?"
 
"You can just have two," Daizi mumbled, lifting her face up, "but it's better to have three or more. We used to have four and with everything happening we didn't get a fourth again, but the problem is Ophelia is younger than Melinoë, because we only adopted Ophelia about a month before you two came here, so she's not even two yet, but Melinoë is nearly three, so soon we need more rats soon, and it's just..." She teared up again, "I love them, I love rats so much, they're so sweet, and they're funny, and they grab things with their tiny hands and you can feed them almost anything, but it's hard to give them the attention they need with Ivy, and it's hard how short they live."

Dark looked at the shrouded rat on the table with sad eyes, going to miss owning them too. They kept rats for about as long as they had been married, but like Daizi, he knew it was for the best. When Ivy grew older, and they had more time, maybe they'd start a new mischief again, but now was not the time for the thought, "They are going to friends, though, so we can visit."

"She will take good care of them," Daizi nodded, slowly standing again, "If you can, the same colour would be better, I think. Thank you."
 
Alec gave her a gentle hug. "Ivy would love having rats as pets when she's bigger," he assured her.

"Come on," Xander said to Alec. "Come play florist and help me pick out the best violets. I don't want to get some that are just going to die in two minutes or something."

"You're so abrasive," Alec grumbled.

"And you're a marshmallow to even it out," Xander told him. "We'll be back soon."

Alec gave Daizi another hug, and then the pair of them went to the nearest plant store to find violets to plant. It was a little harder than expected, but they finally located some in a back corner. Alec picked out the healthiest looking pack of four, and they bought them before heading home again.
 
While the twins were gone, Daizi let her two other rats sniff and interact with Adrienne, and when they were ready, she rewrapped her with the same care as earlier. By the time the twins made it home, Ivy was awake, and they were ready to bury Adrienne.
Already, in the spot Daizi had selected, she had set up four tiny tables. On one she had an incense stick and feathers, on one she had a white candle, then a glass cup of water, with some of the shells and sea glass from the beach around it, and finally, on the last one, she had stones, soil, and more of the cut flowers she had placed in the tiny burial shroud. The four tables were set with enough distance for all of them to stand within their invisible boundary, and she carried the body with her, while Dark carried Ivy who was confused and curious.

Once everyone was inside, she stood towards the table with the incense, and after lighting it, said, "Guardians of the watchtower of the East, I do summon, stir, and call you up to protect me in my rite. Breathe into me the spirit of the pure joy of life." Then, she turned and lit the candle, saying, "Guardians of the watchtower of the South, I do summon, stir, and call you up to protect me in my rite. Kindle within me the flame of spiritual awakening." She did similarly when she turned to the west and the north, with full conviction.

Although Dark did not really believe in any of it, he stood solemn and focused, a solemn and familiar participant in his wife's spiritual needs. That said, he did give the twins a quick warning glance, because although he trusted them to be respectful, he also knew this was the first time they had seen first hand this side of Daizi's commitment to her beliefs.

After the corners were called, Daizi set the circle, declaring only the good could enter its boundaries, she turned to Dark, who handed Ivy to Alec and then gently took Adrienne from his wife, so she could kneel down and dig the grave. Dark handed the shrouded rat back over once Daizi was ready, and crying again, Daizi lay her in it. "You were always so kind to your sisters," Daizi said, "and I loved your wagging tail."

"You boggled everytime I took you out of your cage," Dark added, looking down at the tiny white sheet.
 
The twins stood stock still in complete solemn silence, not saying a word or letting their expressions change one bit. Alec thought the entire ceremony was complete nonsense and didn't really want to be there for it, but he did understand how devastated Daizi was. He wanted to be there for her, however he felt about her beliefs. Plus, he had kind of liked the rats, even while they weren't his favorite. Xander was a little confused and curious about what she was doing, but mostly he didn't get the big deal about a rat. Who's idea was it to even have rats as pets in the first place? For all of Daizi's talk about how sweet, smart, and so-forth they were, they were still sewer and gutter dwellers. Still, it was for Daizi. He could do this for Daizi.
 
Daizi commended Adrienne's spirit to the Goddess and in her next breath told Adrienne to say hello to all of her other rattie sisters and all the fun she would have in the rat-fer life. She put one fistful of the soil over the body and then, standing, let Dark take the time to say what he wanted and add his own fistful of dirt, and they offered the twins a chance to do so as well, if they wanted. Regardless of if they did, Daizi brought Ivy to the tiny grave so she could add some dirt to it, and couldn't help but laugh at what a fun game Ivy thought putting the dirt into the hole was, and she and Dark had to hurry to stop her from making too big of a game and disturbing the grave.

Finally, after adding a sufficient amount of dirt, Daizi planted the violets and stood up, and still with dirty hands, thanked and blessed the four corners in the reverse order of how she had done it before, beginning in the North this time, rather than ending there, and just before blowing out the candle she said, "I undo this Circle and leave this place as it was before."

The rite now complete, Daizi sniffed, holding Ivy while Dark collected the tools so she didn't need to clean up, but she did tell the twins, "Thank you. I know that's not... Thank you for doing that with me."
 
"You're welcome," The twins said in unison.

"We're glad to support you," Alec told her sincerely.

"Sure," Xander agreed. "YOu support us in everything. Should go both ways."
 
"I really did love her," Daizi said, walking away from the violets but sitting on the swing bench rather than going inside just yet, and she sat Ivy down in her lap, snuggling her close. "You were a very good girl, Hummingbird. You were very sweet to our good rat."
 
Since they were sure of the etiquette for after a rat funeral, the twins hung around awkwardly, trying to figure out if there was something they were supposed to do or say.
 
Daizi didn't think to tell them they were released, so eventually Dark came around to tell them the actual proceedings were finished, and they were free to go and do whatever they needed. It was just going to be a quiet day. Eventually Daizi told some of her friends, including Sally, about what had happened, Dark told Cooger who replied, "Rip, she was a real one," and that was all anybody could do. When she was tired of being outside, Daizi went up to the room with the rats and showed them off to Ivy, who always laughed at the way the scurried around, but they were a bit slower that day, the cage seemed a bit more empty than before.

She did come down for dinner, although she was more quiet than usual. It was a familiar grief, but that didn't mean she stopped feeling it.
 
The twins tried to stay respectfully quiet the rest of that day. They were pretty good at keeping quiet when they wanted to, so it wasn't too difficult. They did their best to support their mother in their own ways, but mostly they tried to keep out of the way.

The next morning, at about eleven-thirty when Alec and Xander were out in the shed working together to create a new item for Xander's shop, Ciara called Dark's phone.
 
Dark answered not long after it rang, although in the background of the call, Ivy's loud, excited babbling and the jingle of her little bell could be heard, "Hello, Ciara, how may I help you?" There were sounds of him shifting away to a more quiet area as well as Daizi, who woke up on Sunday more herself, playfully crying out in Arabic habibti, get back here!
 
"Hello, Mr. Dark," greeted Ciara, who struggled to lose the formalism though her tone was warmer than it used to be. "I appologize for being a bit short. I am on break and do not have much time. The theater troupe in my town are putting on a musical production, and I recall the boys saying they liked musicals? Or perhaps that was only Alec."
 
"Alec enjoys them, Xander is more hesitant." Dark replied, not minding Ciara's continued formality and wondering if she would call him by his first name once Daizi chose it. "Are you asking if they would like to go with you or suggesting we take them?"
 
"If you believe they would be interested, I would like to take them to go see it. I have never seen it, myself, but I am assured it is a classic. You and Dr. Wahid are, of course, welcome to come, as well, and I would purchase the tickets," Ciara said. "I would be able to get tickets for any day this week except Tuesday. Is this something you would be amenable to?" She knew she could have asked the twins directly, but she still wanted Dark and Daizi to know that she saw them as the guardians of the twins and respected that. It was a different town, after all.
 
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